Loading…

Patients’ and professionals’ experiences with remote care during COVID-19: a qualitative study in general practices in low-income neighborhoods

To explore how patients and general practice professionals in low-income neighborhoods experienced the increase of remote care during COVID-19. As the GP (general practitioner) is the first point of contact in Dutch health care, there are concerns about access to remote care for patients from low-in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Primary health care research & development 2024-06, Vol.25, p.e32, Article e32
Main Authors: Kollmann, Jelena, Sana, Shakib, Magnée, Tessa, Boer, Sarah, Merkelbach, Inge, Kocken, Paul L., Denktaș, Semiha
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To explore how patients and general practice professionals in low-income neighborhoods experienced the increase of remote care during COVID-19. As the GP (general practitioner) is the first point of contact in Dutch health care, there are concerns about access to remote care for patients from low-income neighborhoods. Now that general practice professionals have returned to the pre-pandemic ways of healthcare delivery, this paper looks back at experiences with remote care during COVID-19. It investigates experiences of both patients and general practice professionals with the approachability and appropriateness of remote care and their satisfaction. In this qualitative study, 78 patients and 18 GPs, 7 nurse practitioners and 6 mental health professionals were interviewed. Interviews were held on the phone and face-to-face in the native language of the participants. Remote care, especially telephone consultation, was generally well-approachable for patients from low-income neighborhoods. Contrarily, video calling was rarely used. This was partly because patients did not know how to use it. The majority of patients thought remote care was possible for minor ailments but would also still like to see the doctor face-to-face regularly. Patients were generally satisfied with remote care at the time, but this did not necessarily reflect their willingness to continue using it in the future. Moreover, there was lack in consensus among general practice professionals on the appropriateness of remote care for certain physical and mental complaints. Nurse practitioners and mental health professionals had a negative attitude toward remote care. In conclusion, it is important to take the opinions and barriers of patients and care providers into account and to increase patient-centered care elements and care provider satisfaction in remote care. Integrating remote care is not only important in times of crisis but also for future care that is becoming increasingly digitalized.
ISSN:1463-4236
1477-1128
1477-1128
DOI:10.1017/S1463423624000240